“I WAS one of the fastest
players in the game,” she
says. “But I knew in my
heart I deserved to be there.
I had put in the work, just like all of
my teammates.”
She traveled throughout the U.S.,
playing with her heart. When her time
ended, she didn’t let her soccer career
fade. She found new purpose.
At the start of each school year
Crabbe shares informative flyers to
advertise her free Outreach City Soccer
League at several of the community’s
“Back to School” backpack events.
“Kim found me the same way she
found all of her kids. My kids came
home with this flyer saying, ‘I want
to play soccer.’ I’m like, I can’t afford
soccer and my daughter says, ‘It’s
free,’” says Chrissie Marshburn. “I was
fascinated by this woman. She has wall-to-
wall kids hanging onto each word.
When we got our uniforms, I kept wait-ing
for someone to say, ‘OK, it’s $20.’
We walked out with free everything.”
For seven weeks in the fall and
spring, Outreach City Soccer League
players gather at Maides Park on
Saturdays. They start each session
within a group warmup that coach
Kim calls “ballnastics.” This involves
all participants and coaches and assures
that everyone is moving with a ball.
“Participants then move to their
designated field where their volunteer
coach offers another, short, struc-tured
drill,” Crabbe says. “And then
we play! The beauty is that no one is
excluded, but instead encouraged in a
positive manner.”
Pre-pandemic, the number of
signups hit 380. The league is more
than Crabbe creating new champions.
It’s having a tangible impact.
Marshburn’s daughter, Ryliegh,
now 9, was once a shy kid, showing
up to games with her glasses on, tiny
and a wallflower. Soccer blossomed
her social skills, leading to new friends
at GLOW Academy and the Girl
Scouts. The game became her true
passion; she says one day she will play
in the World Cup.
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